The present invention generally pertains to voice-activated command systems. More specifically, the present invention pertains to methods and apparatus for aiding potential call recipients in setting up or maintaining automatic voice-dialing systems.
Automatic voice-dialing systems typically use an introductory message recorded by a voice talent (a person hired for their voice) to greet callers, and to inquire from the callers who they would like to contact. A caller then speaks the name of the person he or she wishes to contact, and the voice-dialing system uses a speech recognition technique to identify or recognize the name of this intended recipient of the call. Typically, the voice-dialing system confirms the recognized name with the caller prior to connecting the call to the phone or voice mail associated with the recognized name.
Automatic voice-dialing systems are a cost-effective alternative to human operators. For systems that serve large numbers of people (for example, a company with more than 50,000 employees), however, it becomes impractical to use a voice-talent to record the name of each reachable person (“user”). Yet without a recording of each user's name, the voice-dialer would be forced to use text-to-speech when speaking the name, as is typically used when confirming it (for example, using a prompt such as “Did you say JOHN SMITH?”).
The cost (in time and money) of recording each name can be substantially reduced by distributing the task among the users—i.e., asking each user to record his or her own name. This is a familiar task to users of most voice-mail systems. It is also a task that is often avoided, due to the perceived complexity or time required to make the recording.
The present invention provides solutions to one or more of the above-described problems and/or provides other advantages over the prior art.